Should've
by Snowball's-Chance
Summary: Harvey is blindsided by tragedy. Mike steps in for Harvey while he struggles to cope.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: A little idea I couldn't get out of my head.

Disclaimer: I don't own Suits

Warning: I don't do research. So lots of stuff is probably wrong.

Harvey Specter watched as the NYPD detective leaned on the wall across from him in interrogation room D3, his brown eyes following her every movement, feeling the silence fill the room, her hand subtly brush the hoster on her hip as she glared at him from the shadows. Pretty impressive intimidation tactics. Not ones that were going to work of Harvey, but impressive nonetheless.

"You're not getting anything out of me." Harvey smirked, looking at her through his eyebrows. "I've called my lawyer."

"Cut the shit." The detective growled, her voice a smooth edge. "You're going to give me your boss."

"Why would I do that?" Harvey asked.

"Because I will throw you into a deep, dark hole that you have not even begun to imagine." The detective said, finally getting off her wall and leaning on the table across from where Harvey sat. "I'm the boogie man, Mr. Specter; and I'm coming for you."

Harvey held the detective's eyes for a few long moments. The stagnant pause was suddenly broken when Harvey broke out in a huge grin.

"That was good, Maggie, you almost made me sweat a little bit." Harvey said.

"Really? I thought the boogie man stuff was a little much." Maggie said, sitting down in the table where sandwiches sat along with two bottles of soda and two sets of fries. She picked up her sandwich and took a bite.

"Yes it was, but commit to it. You stink of big, bad Detective Specter." Harvey said. "Speaking of commit…You dating anybody?"

"Nice segue, Uncle Harvey, are you that smooth in court?" Maggie said.

"Not many can handle it. You can take a moment if you'd like." Harvey answered, stealing one of her French fries.

"Why don't you just ask your little brother?"

"You're not getting me to talk to your father." Harvey said.

"Why the hell not? It sucks that my dad and my favorite uncle don't speak anymore." Maggie said.

"I'm your only uncle. And pots shouldn't call kettles black." Harvey said.

"I talk to Dad sometimes." Maggie said.

"What's the name of his current girlfriend?" Harvey asked.

"Either Connie or Cerrie." Maggie decided.

"Patricia." Harvey said, grinning. "You're the best detective on the force and you can't remember a name?"

"'Best detective on the force' might be pushing it a little bit." Maggie said. "He's mad at me."

"Who? Your Dad?" Harvey asked. "Why?"

"You name it: having no time to give him grandchildren, moving away from California, not being a dentist or an accountant like my brothers did." Maggie said. "I think he's mad at me most for spending so much time with you."

"Yeah, well, your father and I didn't part on the bets of terms and that's not looking to change any time soon." Harvey said, stealing another of Maggie's french fries.

"You have an entire order of fries of your very own." Maggie mentioned, quirking one eyebrow.

"We're in a community environment. These fries belong to the greater people." Harvey said.

"Greater people." Maggie said.

"Also, yours taste better." Harvey said. "So what are you working on?"

"I've been running around in circles on this case." Maggie said.

"Really? Can you tell me about it? Or is that against the rules." Harvey asked.

"Double homicide. We're grooming a suspect, but I feel lukewarm about it." Maggie said. "I've got my eye on someone else."

"Who is that?"

"A pretty important guy. Important enough that he can buy his airtight alibi." Maggie said.

"Do you think he did it?" Harvey said.

"Maybe. I know he was involved." Maggie said. "I've got a date going over phone records tonight. What are you up to in that high rise downtown?"

"Hostile takeover." Harvey said.

"Ooo, that sounds exciting."Maggie said.

"I'm glad it sounds that way. Mike and I are going over financial records tonight." Harvey said.

"That's the second time you've mentioned this guy." Maggie gave her uncle a sidelong glance.

"Don't start." Harvey rolled his eyes.

"I'm just saying. I don't think you've mentioned me twice to someone else." Maggie said.

"Hey, why are we eating in the interrogation room?" Harvey said, changing the subject before his face gave anything away to the highly trained NYPD detective. "Are you still embarrassed to be seen with me?"

"I'll have you know that this room is actually cleaner than the break room." Maggie defended.

"Maggie." Harvey said.

"I mean it. You should see the back of the fridge. It's like a science experiment." Maggie said.

"Mags."

Maggie looked at Harvey for a few moments.

"Do you have any idea how much shit I'd catch form the station if they knew I was related to you?" Maggie finally groaned.

"Yes, I do. I just want you to be honest with yourself about it." Harvey answered, smirking. Maggie balled up her sandwich wrapper and threw it at one of the most powerful lawyer in New York City, who ducked, laughing.

Harvey and Mike sat in Harvey's office that night, trying to go over everything in the corporate buyout the deposition was for in the morning. The financial records led them to an internal leak and they were going over any contracts that could be any help. Time was running out and they were under the gun. Harvey vaguely saw Donna pick up the phone out of the corner of his eye, but thought nothing of it.

"The by-laws are going to have it for us." Mike said. "That's the only way we're going to touch the board."

"The CEO's contract says differently. He could block anything we'd throw at them. Keep looking." Harvey barked. Donna opened the door to his office.

"Harvey." Donna called.

"Not now, Donna." Harvey snapped.

"No, Harvey. Maggie…" Donna started.

Harvey looked up at her, his body suddenly feeling cold.

"Maggie died." Donna whispered, her voice small.

Let me know if you want me to continue.


	2. Chapter 2

Wow. I really didn't expect this kind of response. Thank you all that commented. You're amazing.

_Harvey looked up as Maggie walked into his office._

"_So?" Harvey asked."How did the detective's exam go?"_

"_I dunno." Maggie said. "They made this badge for me, so, I guess that's a good sign."_

_Maggie handed Harvey a black wallet and Harvey flipped it open, grinning with pride as he read __**Detective Margaret Specter**__ next to a shiny new detective's badge clipped to the leather. He wrapped his arms around her._

"_Congratulations, Maggie." Harvey said, pulling out a chair for her in front of his desk. "You know you can stop by whenever. You didn't need to make an appointment."_

"_I had another reason for coming to see you." Maggie said as they sat. "I've been putting it off because I knew you'd pitch a fit."_

"_Never in my life have I pitched a fit." Harvey said._

"_The lady a FroYo would beg to differ." Maggie said._

"_That was a calm discussion about extra blueberries between adults." Harvey said, and then saw her shift uncomfortably. "What's on your mind?"_

"_I need to get my affairs in order." Maggie said. Harvey felt himself blink a few times in surprise. That was something old people said, or a terminal patient; that was something people who were dying said._

_Maggie was not allowed to die._

"_Maggie, what brought this up?" Harvey asked._

"_I should have done this fresh out of the academy and you know it, Uncle Harvey." Maggie said. "I'm not a kid anymore. I'm a cop. I need to start thinking about how I want things if anything ever happens to me."_

"_You want me to…?" Harvey asked._

"_I don't trust anyone more than you." Maggie said._

"Harvey."

Harvey's ears were roaring, his body immobile as he stared at Donna. He tried to breathe past his burning chest when he heard his name again.

"Harvey." Harvey looked up to see Mike. The associate had one hand on his shoulder, kneeling in front of his boss, looking at him with concerned eyes.

"When?" Harvey ground out, his voice scratchy.

"I don't know. They won't say over the phone. Captain Marsh wants you to come down to the station to collect some of Maggie's…uhm… personal effects." Donna told him.

"Can't it wait?" Mike asked, looking at her. Donna shook her head

"No." Harvey said quietly, getting up and Mike stood with him. "I'll go over now."

"Harvey…" Mike started.

"Mike." Harvey ground out through gritted teeth with something in his voice that left no room for argument. He grabbed his blazer with numb fingers from his desk chair and slid it on his shoulders, turning to see Mike doing the same. "Where do you think you're going?"

"With you." Mike said, his blue eyes wide and staring at Harvey.

Harvey looked at him, before turning his eyes tiredly toward the door and walking out of it, leaving Mike to trail after him.

Mike stabbed the elevator button for Harvey, keeping a close eye on him as they waited for it to get there. Harvey stared straight ahead, his eyes gaunt, his hands in his pockets, his shoulders sagging to a level Mike didn't think they were capable of sinking to. They stepped onto the elevator and stood in silence for awhile. Mike wished he knew what to say.

"There has to be some mistake." Harvey said quietly.

"Harvey?" Mike asked.

"There's no way…I just…" Harvey whispered. "I just saw her today."

"You don't have to do this tonight." Mike said.

"No." Harvey said again a little more forcefully than he needed to before the elevator dinged and he stepped out into the darkened lobby of the law firm. Donna must've called Ray, because his car was waiting for him, his driver looking at him with sympathetic eyes that Harvey chose to ignore.

Harvey's impressive memory lapsed several times that drive to NYPD's 19th Precinct. Suddenly he was sitting in the car in front of the police station, looking up at the building that he stepped out of after lunchtime that very day. Harvey got out of the car and did his best to stride into the station with confidence, followed closely by Mike.

The next thing he knew he was being handed a lumpy envelope.

A think manila envelope filled with…

"Maggie…" Harvey said, the packet heavy in his hands.

Harvey vaguely became aware of Captain Marsh saying something about condolences and how much Detective Specter had meant to the department.

"What happened?" Harvey asked, his voice steady and businesslike, sliding easily behind his lawyer demeanor.

"Mr. Spectre, I don't think…" Marsh said.

"Don't think. Just tell him what happened." Mike piped up, hovering near Harvey's elbow. Harvey sent him silent thanks.

"Maggie acted on a tip about a double homicide as to the whereabouts of a suspect. There was unforeseen circumstances and shots were fired. Maggie was shot once in the back and three times in the chest." Marsh said. "The third bullet hit a major artery and she bled out before paramedics could resuscitate."

"That was a lot of words without a lot of information." Harvey said, the blood rushing past his ears again. "I want to case file you were working on in my office by tomorrow morning."

"I can't give information out about an ongoing investigation." Captain Marsh said, looking at the business card Harvey just handed him.

"You've apprehended a suspect and plan to prosecute. It's a closed investigation from law enforcement standpoint. I am executor of Detective Specter's will and I need both the file on which you were acting and the report of the murder of Detective Specter for due diligence." Harvey said. "If I do not see them tomorrow, I will sue the NYPD under the Freedom of Information Act."

"I'll see what I can do." Marsh said defiantly.

"On my desk by tomorrow morning." Harvey repeated before turning on his heel and leaving the station.

Harvey watched the New York nightlife in slow motion, the lights and colors blurred around him.

"Home, Ray." Harvey said quietly. Ray turned pointed the car toward Harvey's Manhattan apartment. Harvey vaguely heard Mike say something about his bike still at Pearson Hardman.

"You're not riding that death trap home this time of night and I'm not going to drive all the way out to the boonies to that shit heap you call an apartment." Harvey groused.

Mike started to argue with Harvey when he saw the way Harvey was staring out the window. Then he understood.

Harvey didn't want to be alone.

So Mike kept his mouth shut as Ray pulled up to Harvey's building.

Harvey saw Mike's chest rose and fell in a steady motion under his suit jacket out of the corner of his eye as the associate slept on his couch, his apartment dark save for the city lights twinkling outside of the window. He was grateful the kid was there, but his tired brown eyes didn't stray from the still unopened envelope on Harvey's coffee table. Harvey's hand stayed clenched around the cold tumbler of single malt he'd poured himself half an hour earlier and still hadn't touched, staring at the package.

With a monumental effort, Harvey set the glass on the table and picked up the envelope setting it on his lap. He slid one shaking finger under the fold and tore it open, hesitating before he reached inside.

He felt the smooth leather of Maggie's badge wallet, much more worn with use than he'd seen it that first day. He opened it and saw the same ID card and Maggie's smiling face. Harvey felt his eyes begin to burn. Harvey set the badge aside and reached in the envelope again, this time feeling smooth glass. He pulled out a picture frame.

It was Maggie's graduation from the Police Academy. Harvey remembered the day well. He saw himself smiling broadly with his arm wrapped around Maggie's shoulders and she was hugging him tightly. Her hair was pulled up in a bun and her crisp black uniform complimented her huge grin perfectly, her hat tipped to one side from bumping into his chin.

The lump in Harvey's throat grew to unbearable levels. Harvey leaned back in the darkness with the picture in his hand, stared out the window and, for the first time in more years than he could count, softly wept.

Thanks to all for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

These comments are incredible. Thank you.

AAAAA

_Harvey kept a watchful eye out for cars before crossing the busy New York street while singing out loud, completely ignoring the odd looks from passerby at the grown man in a power suit singing about crossing the street._

"_We look both ways before we cross the street to see if there's any cars." Harvey sang in his deep baritone of a voice._

"_Cuz if we don't we could get hurt so get your head out of the stars." A small, high pitched voice sang with him. Harvey smiled down at the small girl who clung to his hand as she giggled, her blue eyes twinkling. Harvey's hand clutched his briefcase containing both the merger contracts and two legal tablets full of doodles made by the little girl he kept a firm grip on with his other hand as they stepped off the curb, keeping the child close next to him. His little brother Will had dropped her off two days earlier when he'd gone on a business trip out to California. Harvey was starting to worry he might move out there and take Maggie with him._

"_That's right, Maggie." Harvey said as Maggie's curly haired head toddled along next to him at the same height as his hip, adjusting her small pink backpack._

"_Uncle Harvey?" Maggie asked._

"_Yeah, Pumpkin?" Harvey asked._

"_Where are we going?" Maggie asked._

"_We…are…going to play Superman!" Harvey said swinging Maggie over a puddle on the other side of the street and carrying her around in a circle. Maggie shrieked with glee and Harvey laughed as he set her on the pavement on the other side of the puddle. "You see that _great_ big building over there?"_

"_Yeah!" Maggie said._

"_Uncle Harvey's gotta go get some men to sign some papers in that building, then we can go get you some lunch."_

"_You're gonna do a mersher?" Maggie asked._

"_Merger, Honey Bee." Harvey corrected. "It's when two companies...make friends."_

"_You make them friends?" Maggie asked._

"_Yup." Harvey said._

"_Bestest friends?" Maggie asked._

"_Bestest friends." Harvey laughed._

"_My uncle Harvey makes bestest friends!" Maggie sang as they walked. Harvey laughed until he felt a thrill of terror when her hand was ripped from his he stopped in his tracks. He saw Maggie on all fours on the ground._

"_Maggie! Are you okay?" Harvey picked her up, setting her on a nearby park bench. Harvey looked her over in a panic and didn't see any scrapes._

"_I'm okay, Unlce Harvey." Maggie said, dusting off her hands in annoyance. "Can you tie my shoe?"_

_Harvey looked down and saw two loose white laces dangling off of her small green converse sneaker._

"_Of course, Sweetheart, but you gotta help me." Harvey said, sighing at the laces in mock frustration. "How do I start again?"_

"_Criss cross and go under the bridge." Maggie dictated._

"_Oh, yeah!" Harvey said_

_Harvey and Maggie went through her poem to learn how to tie her shoes. Harvey double knotted them and picked her up, her arms wrapped around his shoulder._

"_You're my favorite, Uncle Harvey." Maggie said, playing with Harvey's tie. "I love you."_

"_I love you, too, Pumpkin." Harvey said, his heart melting as he kissed her cheek and pushed through the glass double doors._

SSSSS

Mike squinted as sunlight filtered into the huge windows he was definitely not used to. It took him a few seconds to reboot his brain and remember where he was.

"Harvey…?" Mike asked.

"You can barrow one of my suits if you don't get dork all over it." Harvey's voice came from somewhere near the windows.

Mike fell off the couch and stumbled over to where Harvey stood at the window, looking out over the city, sipping black coffee out of a ceramic mug. His suit was immaculate and his hair was perfectly coiffed, much different than the deflated man Mike had fallen asleep next to that night.

"How…uhm…how're you doing?" Mike asked, his voice scratchy.

"The car will be here in half an hour. Go get ready." Harvey said.

"Yes, but how are you…?" Mike asked again.

"I'm about to be late because my associate won't stop screwing around! How do you think I'm doing?" Harvey snapped. "Get in the shower."

Mike backed off, knowing the edge in his boss' voice when he heard it. He looked back as Harvey took another swig of coffee and wondered if Harvey had slept at all.

Harvey could feel Mike's eyes on his back as the younger man went to the bathroom to get ready for the day. He tried to feel remorse at snapping at him, but his heart wasn't in it.

Harvey's mind was on those files and the names they contained.

Harvey Specter was fearless. Harvey Specter was powerful. And Harvey Specter was pissed. God have mercy on the man whose name was in those files and God have mercy the man who ended the life of the little girl he helped across the street that day.

Because Harvey had none.

"_You're my favorite, Uncle Harvey." Maggie beamed at him. "I love you."_

"You're my favorite, too, Maggie." Harvey said quietly to the morning sun.

AAAAA

I felt the need to introduce you to wee!Maggie. I guess I wanted to meet her, too.

I'll get to the story soon, I promise.


	4. Chapter 4

Definitely made up all my legal stuff…for I am no Harvey Specter.

AAAAA

_Harvey hugged the little girl tightly as he felt her shake with sobs as he held her in his arms, fighting back tears himself as he stood at JFK terminal 4. Will had just stepped inside the gate and allowed Harvey to say goodbye. His fears had been correct._

_Maggie was going to California._

"_I don't want to move away, Uncle Harvey!" Maggie wailed, her arms wrapped tightly around Harvey's neck as he rubbed her back in soothing circles. "I want to stay here with you!"_

"_I know, Maggie, but this is a big opportunity for your daddy." Harvey said, knowing what a small condolence it was. Maggie didn't understand opportunities or jobs or that Will struggled to pay the bills after becoming a single father so young. Harvey helped all that Will would allow, but Los Angeles held an prospect that Will couldn't pass up. _

_Hell, he was a grown man and he didn't want to hear what his own mouth was saying. She leaned back and her blue eyes were bloodshot, shiny tearstains down her face._

"_But you'll be so far away." Maggie hiccupped, rubbing one of her eyes with her tiny fist._

"_Your daddy says you can come spend summers with me." Harvey suggested, taking out a handkerchief and drying her cheeks._

"_Summertime is so far away!" Maggie said, playing with his tie._

"_I'll visit you so often, you'll get sick of me." Harvey said. "And your daddy's got my phone number, so I want you to call me every day, okay?"_

"_I don't want to go." Maggie said, lunging and wrapping her arms around his neck. Harvey took a deep breath to compose himself._

"_Maggie, listen." He whispered. Maggie leaned back and sniffed, looking at Harvey with watery eyes. "Nothing will keep me from seeing you, okay?"_

"_What if a fire breathing dragon attacks me?" Maggie asked. "Or aliens come or monsters under my bed eat me?"_

"_Nothing, Nobody will keep me from you, Honey Bee." Harvey said, tipping her head up. "And remind me to talk to your father about what kind of movies you watch."_

SSSSS

Harvey could feel all eyes on him as he stepped from the elevator and strode toward his office. Mike followed him watching all of the faces glance away when his eyes met theirs.

"News travels fast I guess." Mike thought, meeting the eye of everyone in the firm, daring them to judge Harvey, to feel sorry for him. Harvey stared straight ahead, either not noticing or caring about all of the eyes in the office. Mike went to drop his things off at his cubicle.

"No, you don't." Harvey said. "We've got a hostile takeover to stop."

Mike nodded and grabbed a few files from his desk and followed Harvey to prepare. He tried to read anything that gave away his boss' mood. Harvey was a mess yesterday, what had happened last night?

"Messages?" Harvey asked Donna, who handed them to him diligently. "Has anything come for me?"

"Nothing yet, Harvey." Donna said, shaking her head. Harvey continued into his office, every effort being put into keeping himself from crawling out of his skin.

"They have until the end of the day." Harvey thought to himself.

To occupy himself Harvey kept his sights on the deposition ahead, the path to victory suddenly clear. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mike swipe the newspaper that came to his office every morning, tucking it inside his messenger bag so fast Harvey barely saw it. It occurred to Harvey would be in the newspaper and sent Mike another silent thanks.

Suddenly Harvey and Mike were sitting in a conference room at the other firm representing the competition, McMurphy and Miles, waiting.

"Where the hell are they?" Mike grumbled.

"Probably trying to making us sweat." Harvey said, suddenly tired. Games were the very last thing he was in the mood for.

Maggie needed him.

Harvey and Mike looked up when the door opened. Harvey wrestled a look of disappointment when he saw the blond associate that had shown them in. He was probably there to offer he and Mike drinks or something.

"I'm sorry gentlemen, but this deposition must be postponed." The associate said.

"This is completely outrageous." Harvey said getting to his feet and buttoning his blazer in annoyance. "Our client won't stand for being terrorized while your guys hide in foxholes."

"The McMurphy and Miles legal team for Carson Motors are indisposed with another legal matter." The associate said, taking a step back from Harvey.

"What legal matter?" Mike asked.

"I don't know if I should tell you…" the associate said.

"If you don't tell us what has postponed this deposition that your firm's clients have petitioned for, I will file for injection at the same time I move for you and your firm to be held in contempt of court, not to mention I will do everything in my considerable power to make sure you lose your job." Harvey growled. The associate swallowed.

"One of the sister company's CEO has been indicted in criminal proceedings." The associate said quickly.

"What charges?" Mike asked.

"I think that's a violation…" the associate started.

"What charges." Harvey asked through clenched teeth.

"Murder. Murder charges. I swear to God that's all I know." The associate said. Harvey cringed inwardly. That was the last thing he wanted to think about.

"Well, let your clients know I'm filing for dismissal." Harvey said packing up his briefcase and walking out followed by Mike.

SSSSS

Mike looked over at Harvey as the top litigator looked out the window, his mind million miles away.

_Probably ten miles down the street to the office._ Mike thought.

Mike had an odd feeling about the deposition this morning. There was something odd about these criminal proceedings. Carson motors had sister companies to be sure. Mike recalled them from memory.

"Johnson, Pacific, Olympic…" Mike muttered to himself. His eyes widened and he dug into his messenger bag.

"What are you muttering about?" Harvey finally asked in a distracted voice.

Mike found what he was looking for and opened the newspaper.

"Oh, my God."

"What?"

"I think I know what that associate was talking about." Mike said. He passed the newspaper to Havrey. "You're going to want to take a look at this."

Harvey looked at the headline news.

**TATE MURDER CHARGES – Gerald Tate of Tate Inc., arrested by the NYPD for possible involvement with a double homicide, is now under suspicion of the murder of an NYPD detective whose name has not yet been released.**

Harvey scanned the rest of the article, but didn't process what he'd read past the first sentence.

"Looks like we have our fire-breathing dragon, Maggie." Harvey said. "The monsters better run and hide."

SSSSS

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of your comments. They inspire me to keep writing. : )

-Snowball


	5. Chapter 5

Along with making up legal things, I also make up the names of baseball players

AAAAA

_The dull thud of the ball into the catcher's mitt floated up to the fans behind the dugout at Yankee Stadium past the Oakland Athletics' batter._

"_Ball!" shouted the umpire._

"_Bullshit!" Harvey and Maggie said in perfect unison. Harvey looked over at the teenage girl that sat next to him in jean shorts, a Yankees t-shirt, and a "NY" baseball cap, her long legs propping themselves up on the bar in front of them. She looked over at him and pushed her aviator sunglasses up her nose with a shit-eating grin that Harvey couldn't help chuckle with pride at the sight of. He couldn't believe how much she'd grown._

"_Open up your eyes, Ump! You're missing a great game!" Maggie shouted at a volume that made the umpire turn and glare at her._

"_I really hope you don't get us kicked out again." Harvey said._

"_It's not my fault Jacobs is so damn sensitive about that stupid knuckleball he brags about so much." Maggie said._

_A group of teenage boys passed in front of them, their eyes on Maggie's legs and everything that was attached to them. Maggie smiled and waved. Harvey frowned at the looks on the boys' faces. He definitely knew that look. He wore that look often in his youth._

"_Beat it." Harvey growled as he glared at them over his sunglasses. The boys jumped and shuffled past much more quickly. He heard Maggie sigh with exasperation._

"_You're such a dweeb, Uncle Harvey." Maggie laughed._

"_I remember when you were happy drawing pictures of butterflies in my office. Can't we go back to that?" Harvey asked._

"_I'm going to go to college soon. What will you do to ruin my fun then?" Maggie asked._

"_I think a pretty big stick will do the trick." Harvey answered, taking a gulp of soda. "Speaking of which, how did your Stanford tour go?"_

_Maggie shrugged, lazily tossing a popcorn kernel in her mouth._

"_I can talk to some people about Harvard." Harvey said. Maggie wrinkled her nose._

"_I like NYU better." Maggie said. _

"_Yeah?" Harvey asked, trying not to give away his relief at having her so close to him. "What are you thinking about majoring in?"_

"_I was thinking about Criminal Justice." Maggie answered her tone hesitant._

"_That's great! What's wrong with that?" Harvey asked._

"_Dad doesn't want me to." Maggie said. Harvey's eyebrows furrowed._

"_Why?" Harvey asked._

"'_It's dangerous, Maggie. You could get hurt. I don't want you to be handling crack addicts and getting shot at. Why don't you be a teacher instead?'" Maggie said in a deep voice, presumably imitating her father She shook her head as she ended her impression. "I mean a teacher? Really?"_

"_What do you want to be?" Harvey asked._

"_I want to be a cop, Uncle Harvey." Maggie said. "I want to be NYPD."_

"_Mags, I think you can be anything you want to be." Harvey said. "This is an important decision. Your dad can have his opinion, but this is your row to hoe."_

"_I really want this. I just wish Dad had as much faith in me as you do, Uncle Harvey" Maggie said. She watched as another player come up to bat, cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "Hey, Parsons! Me and my Uncle are taking your mom out for pancakes after the game if you hit this homer! You want to come?"_

"_Good Christ" Harvey laughed as the batter shot them a look that should have set them on fire._

AAAAA

Harvey stepped into Pearson Hardman with even more determination than before, if that was possible. He had a goal, he had an enemy, he had Maggie's killer in his teeth and he wasn't letting go anytime soon. Harvey told one of the other associates to file for his dismissal on the hostile takeover. Mike looked at him curiously as he and Harvey went to the partner's office.

"Come with me. You've got more important things to do." Harvey said

"How are you going to get this case?" Mike asked. "Isn't that a job for the DA?"

"Sometimes you can apply for an outside prosecutor's license." Harvey said. "Like community service. I'm filing for one right now."

"Can the DA help you get one?" Mike asked.

"You bet your ass he will." Harvey said, approaching his office. Donna stood.

"I just got a call from the NYPD and they're sending the files over now, but…" Donna paused.

"What?" Harvey asked.

"Jessica wants to see you. Both of you. Right now." Donna said.

"Tell her I'll be there in five minutes." Harvey answered.

"No, right now." Donna said. "She was really specific."

Harvey sighed in annoyance. These road blocks were going to drive him crazy. He turned on his heel and got to Jessica's office as soon as possible.

Jessica Pearson looked up and saw him standing in the doorway.

"Come in." she said as she stood to her full height, her shoulders back and her lips pursed slightly. The kind of posture she held with business and when she had to give someone bad news.

Harvey had just about had his fill of bad news for one lifetime.

"First of all I want to give you my condolences." Jessica started. Harvey clenched his jaw and said nothing. "Secondly, I wanted to let you know I already applied for the outside prosecutor's license for this case and the Department of Justice approved it right away."

"Thank you, Jessica." Harvey said.

"And thirdly, I can't let you prosecute this case." Jessica said. Harvey felt the ground fall out from under his feet.

"What? Why not?" Mike asked quickly. Jessica silenced him with a look.

"Jessica, you can't do this to me." Harvey said in a very quiet voice. "You can't."

"I can and I will." Jessica said. "Gerald Tate is a former client. You worked with him personally."

"I barely worked with that asshole at all!" Harvey argued.

"You worked with him enough that the ethics board will crawl up my ass and die if you go up against him in criminal proceedings and lose." Jessica said. "I'm sorry, Harvey. It has to be someone else."

"I won't lose." Harvey said, running a hand through his hair in agitation and pacing around her office.

"Harvey it's a former client and he's been accused of killing two rival board member and now is under suspicion for killing a cop! Most firms wouldn't touch this with a ten foot pole and you know it." Jessica said. "You can pick someone else if you want to, but that's the best you can do. One of the other senior partners."

"They would never take this case." Harvey said. "It's too damn small for them. This is something we would give the associates to fight over."

Harvey's own words made him sick.

"What about Louis or Carson? They would take your case." Jessica suggested. Harvey was close to seeing red.

"Maggie doesn't deserve an above average attorney or a substitute. She deserves to have her murderer to rot in jail. She doesn't deserve Louis or Will; she deserves me!" Harvey said, clutching the back of one of Jessica's desk chairs for support.

Jessica looked at him curiously and with a kind of softness in her eyes that Harvey could never quite remember seeing before.

"Carson, Harvey." Jessica said.

"What?" Harvey said.

"You said Will when you meant Carson." Jessica reintegrated.

"I said Carson." Harvey mumbled, looking out the windows behind Jessica.

"No, Harvey, you didn't." Jessica said. "Do you know what I think Maggie deserves? She deserves an attorney that has a level head right now, one that can focus on the court proceedings. I don't see an attorney like that in you right now. I see an uncle that just lost his niece and is lashing out like a wounded animal. You are about this close to a tail spin and Maggie deserves better than that."

"I _need_ to be part of this, Jessica." Harvey said.

"I'll do it." Mike piped up in a small voice. Both of the power partners turned and faced him.

"What?" Harvey asked.

"I'll prosecute this case." Mike said, his voice a little stronger. "and I can choose whomever I want to have as my second chair; I choose Harvey. The ethics board shouldn't have a problem with that. Tate was before I ever came to work here."

"You sure about this, kid?" Jessica said. "Tate's going to have a bulldog of a lawyer."

"I'll show him what a bulldog lawyer looks like." Mike answered, his voice hard.

AAAAA

I love comments! Tell me what you think and thank you for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

Ahhh, comments. I love the comments.

AAAAAA

_Mike chewed on the highlighter in his mouth in concentration, his blue eyes flying over the complicated legal language like it was a nursery rhyme. He'd been working on these briefs for awhile now and after three hours of painstaking work, had finally found the break that he and Harvey needed. He just needed to finish flagging the file, which would not take him too much longer._

"_Excuse me."_

_Mike looked up and was met with intelligent warm brown eyes._

_The woman was about his age, maybe a little younger; statuesque in a no-nonsense pantsuit and heels, a gun in a holster on her hip and a detective's NYPD badge clipped to her slender waist. Her face had an angular quality to it that Mike had seen somewhere before, her jaw and high cheekbones curving gracefully into her dark brown hair._

_Mike got the usual thrill of terror he got from cops after smoking weed for so many years, but quickly remembered he was completely clean now and told himself to stop being an idiot before he made her suspicious._

"_Hi, sorry." The detective said, showing him a mile wide smile with dimples and crinkled her eyes in a way that was so damn _familiar_. "I seem to be a little lost."_

"_Well, I'm sure I can help you with that." Mike said, laughing slightly and smiling back at her._

"_I'm looking for Harvey Specter and I can't seem to find his new office, can you help me?" the detective asked. "He just made senior partner here."_

"_You're pretty hot." Mike said, then his eyes went wide at the detective's odd look. "I mean, you're really close…to his office is what I meant to say."_

_Mike mentally slapped his forehead._

"_No worries. I knew what you meant." The detective said, laughing. "Not that I would have said 'no' to the compliment."_

"_It's easy to get lost in here." Mike said, feeling blood rush to his ears._

"_Yeah, everything's made out of glass in here. I keep bumping into stuff." The detective said. Mike found himself laughing._

"_Harvey's office is right around the corner. I can walk you…" Mike started._

"_Oh, no. That's fine. I think I can find my way from here." The detective smiled. "Thanks for your help, Mike."_

"_You're welcome." Mike answered awkwardly as she walked away. He dropped his head to his desk, then paused._

_How did she know his name?_

_Mike quickly finished notating the files and tried and failed to walk calmly to Harvey's office. He saw the detective and Harvey talking and laughing. Harvey's smile mirrored the woman's._

That's_ where he'd seen it before._

"_Who is that?" Mike asked Donna. Donna looked up and into Harvey's office as if seeing the visitor for the first time._

"_Oh, that's Maggie. She's got a season pass into Harvey's office." Donna answered, going back to her work._

"_Who's Maggie?" Mike said in interest, looking at the pair of them in Harvey's office._

_Donna looked up to see the rapt look on Mike face and chuckled._

"_What's so funny?" Mike asked._

"_This is gonna be good." Donna said._

_Mike turned to see the door open and Maggie walked out, smiling at him._

"_Hey, Mike." Maggie said, slipping a card into his palm. _

_Mike looked down and saw a business card for the NYPD for __**Detective Margaret Specter**__ with a cell phone number written on the back in pen._

"_Just in case I can return the favor for the directions." Maggie smiled and walked toward the elevator, leaving Mike to stare after her with wide eyes. _

_He turned and found himself almost nose to nose with Harvey Specter, the smile he was sharing with Maggie earlier completely gone, replaced with a stern look._

"_Ah!" Mike squawked. "How do you do that?"_

"_I know for a fact that my niece did not just give you her phone number." Harvey said, his brown eyes scrutinizing._

_Mike looked down at the card in his hand._

"_No." he said, wide eyed and shaking his head, hiding the card quickly._

"_And I know for a fact that you did not ask her for said phone number." Harvey said._

"_Yes…I mean no! I didn't ask her…for a phone number…that I may or may not have." Mike said, clearing his throat. _

"_You need to work on that poker face, Kid." Harvey rolled his eyes and went into his office, mumbling, "She's going to be the death of me."_

SSSSS

Mike carefully avoided Harvey for the rest of the day after the look his boss gave him leaving Jessica's office.

Mike had never seen a look of pure anger on Harvey's carefully sculpted face before.

Mike pulled up all the files he could find on Gerald Tate. Every business acquisition, every merger, every parking ticket Pearson Hardman had handled for him. Mike needed ammunition for character witnesses the defense brought up against him.

There was no way in hell he was going to let Harvey or Maggie down.

Mike paused from pawing through the files long enough to rub his tired blue eyes with his long fingers. He blinked, looking out of the windows and seeing the twinkling lights of the city against the inky black sky. He looked at his watch and saw that it was well into midnight.

He gathered up the files and put them in his bag. He grabbed the dismissal confirmation the associate that had filed it threw on his desk and walked down to Harvey's office, surprised when he saw the lights still on. Mike looked past the glass walls and saw the still form of Harvey. He pushed the door open with hesitating hands.

"Come on in, Mike." Harvey said, his voice gravely. Harvey had loosened his tie and unbuttoned the top button on his shirt, his vest and jacket on his office chair behind him. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, much like Mike's own and there was a glass of amber liquid in his hand. He sat like a puddle on his couch. "I want to thank you for today. In Jessica's office. You didn't have to do that."

"I wanted to, Harvey." Mike said.

"Thank you." Harvey said again.

"Are you okay?" Mike asked, taking a step closer.

"Got the police reports." Harvey said, his syllables less immaculate than they usually were. Harvey must have had a couple of tumblers already. Mike's eyes wondered down to the folders next to Harvey.

The crime scene photos were devastating.

Maggie's body lay slumped against a dingy wall, her button down and pants soaked with blood that had flowed out of thee small bullet holes in her chest, and a larger exit wound that took a chunk out of her side, her blood pooling on the filthy wood floor under her. Her hands were limp at her sides with her gun in her right hand and her head was flush against her shoulder unnaturally. Her face was untouched, her skin a grey color, her eyes closed and a stream of blood coming out of her nose and one coming out of one corner of her mouth. Her long legs were crumpled in the fractured-looking position that spoke of someone who didn't have much choice in the matter of falling.

Mike had to look away, squeezing his eyes shut and willing his brain to forget the image of her body.

"S-she's dead, Mike." Harvey said, fresh tears coming down his face, his breathing heavy. "I didn't see it until now. She's gone and 'm never gonna see her again."

Mike fought a lump in his throat as he knelt next to Harvey. There was nothing you could really say, nothing that would make this better.

"I 'member…I remember…" Harvey said, putting his glass of scotch down.

"What do you remember, Harvey?" Mike asked.

"I remember _holding_ her, Mike." Harvey said, holding out his hands and looking at them. "She was_ hours_ old and my brother put that little girl in my arms and I just…"

Mike waited while Harvey swallowed a few times, and then continued.

"I lost my mind. She 'uz so _beautiful_. I didn't know something could be that beautiful and perfect and so small and…" Harvey wiped a hand down his face, then looked at Mike with bloodshot eyes. "Never gonna let anything happen to that beautiful baby girl. Never."

Mike was speechless as he knelt beside Harvey.

"An' now she's…she's…lying in some…metal drawer somewhere…cold…an'-an' alone…" Harvey started.

"She's not alone, Harvey." Mike said, laying a hand on Harvey's shoulder. Harvey looked at him again. "Maggie's not alone. She has you and she has me and we're going to make the people responsible for this pay for what they did."

"That won't bring her back, Mike." Harvey said. Mike looked down, knowing what a small consolation it was.

"She's not alone, Harvey." Mike said again.


	7. Chapter 7

Thanks for reading! Please tell me what you think!

AAAAA

_Harvey opened the door to his apartment with a relieved sigh and threw his keys in a bowl by the front door, the display on his watch hands inching distressingly toward the wee hours of the morning._

_What. A. Day._

_Twelve solid hours of going over tax law after one of their clients' bailout money had come into question thrown on his desk at noon after a full morning dealing with a divorce, a wrongful termination suit, and criminal allegations concerning a drug test had Harvey questioning his career choice for the better part of a day._

_He was counting the days until he made senior partner._

_He let out a shuddering yawn as he pulled his way out of his suit, hanging it up to take to the cleaners when he had time, pulling on sweat pants and a well loved t-shirt as he dove into bed, moaning at the feeling of finally retiring from essentially the day from Hell itself, sent from the Devil to punish Harvey for sins he was sure the lawyer was going to commit._

_Then buzzer to his front door rang. Harvey's eyes popped open._

"_This can't possibly be happening." Harvey groaned, rubbing his hands over his face and seriously considering pretending he wasn't at home._

_He stumbled out of bed and punched the box on the wall a little harder than necessary to answer whoever was at the front of his apartment building buzzing him._

"_What?" Harvey grunted._

"_U-uncle Harvey?" a soft, broken voice choked on the other end. "C-can I come…come u-up?"_

_Harvey buzzed the door open before she was even finished speaking. Maggie was out on patrol tonight; she just finished her first full month of being an officer of the NYPD and Harvey felt himself tense every time he heard sirens in the distance, wondering if it was Maggie, wondering if she was safe._

_By the sound of her voice, Harvey knew something was wrong._

_He tore open the front door and Maggie was standing there._

_She looked awful._

_Her hair was mussed, her eyes bloodshot with tears working their way down her pale face. She was in her civvies, apparently just off her shift. Harvey gasped at the deep gash across one of her cheekbones._

"'_M sorry…" Maggie started._

"_Jesus, Maggie, what the hell happened?" Harvey asked, taking her head in his hands and looking at the cut on her face._

"_I didn't…I couldn-n't…" Maggie's tears glided down her face._

"_What's wrong?" Harvey asked_

"_I couldn't save him, Uncle Harvey." Maggie whispered._

_Harvey looked at her face into eyes that were so like his own and there was a hurt there that he couldn't fathom himself. He gently wrapped his arms around her and felt her sag against him. _

"_He-he was just-just a little kid he d-didn't do an-anything and his dad just-just beat him." Maggie sobbed into Harvey's shoulder, clutching the fabric of his t-shirt. "I thought…I thought…th-the dad w-was cuffed, but he hit me and-and I l-lost him and-and he broke-broke his kid's neck. His-his ow-own son. Oh, God…Oh, my God…"_

"_Shh…it's okay…I promise it'll be okay, Honey Bee." Harvey said, petting her hair and rocking back and forth gently, suddenly realizing how small his day had been in comparison as he felt Maggie's tears wet the shoulder of his t-shirt._

"_I couldn't s-save him, Uncle Harvey." Maggie cried. "I was th-there to save him and he died…"_

"_Just calm down, Maggie, calm down. It'll be okay…" Harvey said. His eyebrows drew together when he felt her shake her head against his shoulder._

"_I can't do this…I can't do this…" Maggie wept, clinging to Harvey like a lifeline._

"_I know it's hard right now, Maggie, but you remember mistakes and you move on." Harvey said, bringing Maggie over to his couch and setting her down, looking into her eyes and clutching her shoulders. "You taking this personally is why you _can _do this."_

_More tears leaked down her face and Harvey folded her into his arms again as they rocked back and forth for hours until she fell asleep._

SSSSSS

Harvey was snapped out of his thoughts by the groan of one of his leather chairs. He looked up from his desk for the first time in what seemed like hours.

Mike was squatted over paperwork that was splayed out of Harvey's coffee table, his long, lean body bent in what must've been a pretty uncomfortable position, twirling a ballpoint Bic absentmindedly in his hand as he scanned over a copy of one of Maggie's police reports. His stomach felt less heavy when Mike was with him as opposed to being by himself with his thoughts, but it didn't stop Harvey raising an eyebrow when we wondered what Mike was still doing in his office as opposed to the cubicle that had a much more comfortable workspace.

He and Mike had worked nonstop on Maggie's files ever since they got them and Jessica delegated cases elsewhere when she could. Mike had squirreled away the pictures in a drawer on the other side of the office and Harvey was grateful that they were hidden so the nightmares he'd been having didn't get any worse. Harvey had called in a few favors and had their court date moved to as soon as possible, but still was a few weeks away.

"More time to prepare." Harvey had said through gritted teeth and Mike wondered whether Harvey was trying to convince the associate or himself. Gerald Tate was staunchly demanding his innocence on Maggie's murder, so they were to go to trial.

Harvey watched as Mike shifted on the leather again and felt himself speak before he could stop his mouth from moving.

"Why are you in here?" Harvey asked.

"What?" Mike asked, turning blue eyes to Harvey.

"You have a desk of your very own, you know." Harvey pointed out.

"Yes…uh…well, Kyle brought this garlic burrito thing into the office for lunch today and it made the associate's cubicles smell like ass, so…I hope you don't mind." Mike said smoothly and turned back toward his work. The lie probably would have worked on anyone else besides the man who sat across the desk from Mike.

"Okay, let's have the real answer." Harvey said.

"Your couch is comfortable." Mike said, disproving his point by shifting again.

"With paperwork sitting on your knees?" Harvey asked.

"That's the price you pay." Mike answered.

"Mike."

"What?" Mike asked.

"Why are you here?" Harvey said again. He watched as Mike sighed into his paper work, not looking up.

"Because I know what it's like, Harvey." Mike said, making a note in the margin on the police report he was reading.

"What's like?" Harvey asked.

"That ache inside that won't go away." Mike answered casually, sending a cold stab of sadness plunging into Harvey's stomach as the accuracy of Mike's words. "I know how hard it is to breathe around sometimes."

"Yeah." Harvey said so quietly, he wasn't sure if Mike even heard it.

"It helps when you have someone to bullshit with, talk to, or just the fact that they're there with you. You can stop thinking about it a little." Mike made another note as Harvey looked at him with surprised eyes.

Mike had been living like this his whole life. Harvey never quite saw what that meant until now. This weight in his chest, how heavy his body felt _all the time_, the fact he couldn't think about Maggie without aching all over…he couldn't imagine having this kind of feeling thrust upon a child who just lost his parents.

"I don't…" Harvey began. Mike looked up for the first time. "How do you get better, Mike? How can this get better?"

Mike looked at Harvey, unblinking.

"It doesn't, really." Mike answered quietly. "But you keep people around you and sooner or later, you learn to hold on to it because it's all you've got left of whoever's not here anymore."

Mike and Harvey sat in silence for a moment, sharing something Harvey couldn't quite remember having before.

"I can't do this, Mike." Harvey whispered. "I don't know if I can do this."

"You can." Mike said in a simple, steady voice, returning to his paper work. Harvey looked at him for a few more moments and kept working himself, feeling more that much more solid with Mike in the room.

Shortly after their conversation, a small worktable and chair had arrived from storage and Mike stepped into it gratefully, going over more files in oblivion. Harvey threw a grateful smile out to Donna, who smiled and nodded back.


	8. Chapter 8

The dates and ages don't quite match up. I hope you'll forgive the suspension of the time-space continuum for a few brief words.

All reviews are appreciated.

AAAAA

_The New York skyline was breathtaking. No matter who you were, where you were going, where you were from, there were just some things that made you stop and take a breath. The Manhattan outline was one of them._

_Harvey agreed wholeheartedly. He remembered the first glance of downtown Manhattan when his parents had first brought in into the city from the suburbs. He'd stared at it with wide eyes, wondering how something this beautiful could exist outside of a fairy tale. There was still some part of that little boy in the grown man, a child still full of wonder at the shining buildings, standing tall and resolute. Nothing could ever tear buildings like that down_

_Fully grown Harvey had just stepped out of the file room with the briefs that he needed when he heard a commotion by one of the TVs in the lobby. He walked over to the quickly gathering crowd. He saw smoke billowing out of one of the buildings of the World Trade Center. At first Harvey thought it was some kind of movie trailer, perhaps an upcoming action flick that he probably wouldn't have the desire or the time to see. Then he got close enough to hear the voice over._

"…_sources say that the damage is structurally catastrophic. It is unclear whether or not fowl play was involved. New York Firefighters are making efforts to contain the blaze and NYPD are working to evacuate the building…."_

_The newscaster continued as the file fell from Harvey's limp hands. He scrambled in his jacket pocket for his cell phone and dialed a number._

_The phone rang for what seemed like an eternity before Harvey was dropped into voicemail._

"_This is Detective Specter. Please leave a message." The voicemail said. Then the beep sounded in Harvey's ear. He hung up and frantically tried a second time, staring at the TV screen while his heart pounded in his ears and dread settled in his stomach._

"_Yeah?" An out of breath voice said on the other line, the connection scratchy._

"_Maggie! Thank God!" Harvey sighed with relief at the sound of her voice. "Where are you?"_

"_We're trying to get people out of the North tower. Are you safe?"_

"_I'm at the office. We're fine." Harvey answered._

"_Listen, I have to…wha…what is…Oh my God…OH MY GOD!" Maggie yelled on the other end of the phone just before there was a large BOOM and the line went dead._

_Harvey watched in horror on the TV screen as an airplane crashed into the South tower, sending a fireball up into the already blackened sky. Harvey felt like throwing up as even the news reporter was shocked into silence, a few screams sounding in the office as the Pearson Hardman building felt a tremor. Harvey clawed at his cell phone, calling Maggie's number again and willing her to pick up._

_After the sixth try, Harvey made a beeline for the elevators, but was stopped by none other than Jessica Pearson herself._

"_Harvey, no." she said in a desperately calm voice._

"_Don't stop me." Harvey growled._

"_I know you want to help Maggie, but she has a job to do right now. Maggie would want you to stay where it's safe." Jessica said, keeping a firm grip on Harvey's shoulders._

"_The sky is falling out there on top of her and you want to tell me what Maggie would want?" Harvey seemed to be having a hard time breathing._

_Then, the cell phone in his hand started to ring. Maggie's name was on the caller ID. Harvey flipped it open a brought it to his ear._

"_Maggie! Are you okay?" Harvey asked._

"_I j-just called to ask-ask how the weather was." Maggie's gasping voice was back, joking to cover the shaking in her tone. Harvey wanted to cry with relief._

"_You get away from there and you get where it's safe." Harvey ordered a break in his voice._

"_I can't do that, Uncle Harvey." Maggie said. "Under no circumstances are you to go outside. The dust is getting really bad out here and I don't want you to breathe this shit in."_

"_Maggie, no." Harvey said firmly._

"_I have to. I'm the one of the guys that stays." Maggie said in a final tone that made Harvey's heart swell with pride at the same time his stomach turned. "Stay inside. I won't be able to call you for awhile, so make sure you keep yourself safe and stay where you are. I'll come get you when I can, okay?"_

"…_okay." Harvey whispered finally, feeling his body jerk when he heard a loud noise and a scream on the other side of the phone. "Maggie?"_

"_I need to go. People need help." Maggie said quickly. "Uncle Harvey?"_

"_Yeah, I'm here." Harvey answered quickly._

"_I love you." Maggie gasped._

"_I love you, too. More than anything." Harvey said, trying to keep his voice steady. His stomach did a flip when Maggie hung up. He turned haunted eyes at the television coverage that played across his screen, unable to look away as he feverishly prayed to whatever cruel deity allowed this to happen in the first place for some kind of mercy._

SSSSS

Harvey stood before the courthouse, never before hesitating to take the steps until now. He wondered what had made their arraignment fall on September 11th. He looked up the steps, suddenly realizing how many there were.

"Are you ready for this?" Mike asked from beside Harvey.

"Doesn't matter if I'm ready for this, kid. It matters that you are." Harvey answered, mentally trying to shake the screams he heard on the other side of the phone that day out of his head.

"Well, then we're in good shape." Mike said in confidence.

"Good." Harvey said shortly before climbing the steps.

They arrived in courtroom 11B ten minutes before their scheduled time. Harvey recognized Donald McMurphy himself walk into the huge oak doors a few steps ahead of them.

_Must be quite a chuck of change for Tate to be paying for a partner to handle his arraignment._ Harvey thought as he and Mike took their seats. Harvey felt a pit in his stomach when he sat on Mike's left side.

He should be lead chair, damn it.

But as Gerald Tate was led into court by the bailiff gripping his upper arm, Harvey felt such a rage that he knew he wouldn't be able to see straight, much less argue proficiently in court and win.

There was no case more important than this one.

"How's it going, Specter?" Tate sneered as he was led past. Harvey gripped the edge of the table.

"Run to your lawyer, Tate." Harvey growled. Mike and Harvey watched as Tate was sat next to McMurphy, who scurried over to them.

"I'll thank you not to speak with my client." He said in a nasally voice.

"I'll thank you to advise you client to keep his comments to himself." Mike fired back.

McMurphy opened his mouth to retort, but was interrupted by the bailiff.

"All stand for the honorable Judge Furnish." The bailiff called.

The few occupants of the courtroom stood as a statuesque man in black robes sat down at the bench.

"Arraignment 11A-12 The people vs Gerald Tate." The bailiff said.

"What are the charges, councilor?" Furnish asked Mike.

"First degree murder." Mike said in a full voice.

"The defense objects on the severity of these charges, you honor." McMurphy said. "The evidence against my client is purely circumstantial and we expect leniency. Mr. Tate is a pillar of the community…"

"Please." Mike groaned. Harvey looked at him in surprise along with all the other occupants of the room. "Pillar of the community my ass."

"Do you have something to add, councilor?" Furnish asked.

"Gerald Tate has been the CEO of a hostile corporation that had used cutthroat tactics many times before. He's used everything from brute force to blackmail and threats, which is why the prosecution has petitioned the court to suspend bail." Mike argued. Harvey looked at the way he held himself, the way his blue eyes held a fine razor edge that was not prepared to give an inch.

This was not a man to be trifled with.

"Prior allegations are not relevant." McMurphy inserted.

"Not when the charges brought by the prosecution are challenged, which would not be happening if the officer who had worked the case were not one of the murder charges in question. The defense brought 'pillar of the community' before the court to describe Mr. Tate and expected the prosecution to swallow it."

"Well, I never…" McMurphy bristled.

"Your honor," Mike began, taking a deep breath, "one of this city's finest has fallen in the line of duty. Margaret Specter was one of the people who stepped into the fire without a second thought while the rest of us were running away as fast as we could. Charges against killing her should not be taken lightly. Ever. Especially not today."

Harvey swallowed, keeping his composure carefully.

"Now, that is disrespectful." McMurphy said. "The prosecution is cheapening the tragedy for the entire nation for his own benefit."

"Enough, councilor. I've made my decision. The charges stand. How does the defense plead?" Furnish asked.

"Not guilty." The McMurphy squealed.

"The accused will be detained without bail in a county facility until trial in conducted a week from Wednesday." Furnish said, banging his gavel and left the courtroom. Gerald Tate was dragged from the room, snarling at Mike and Harvey.

McMurphy stomped over to the prosecution table. He put his palms down on the surface and leaned close to Harvey's nose.

"This is going to be the worst trial of your life, Harvey." McMurphy slithered.

"I'm already there, Donald." Harvey growled, his eyes cutting to the middle of McMuphy so badly the other man took a step back. "Mike and I are coming for Tate, so I would keep your threats to yourself until you fully appreciate the freight train that's going to drop on top of you."

McMurphy grabbed his briefcase and left to courtroom while partner and associate watched.

"Yeah, we're ready for this." Harvey said to Mike.


	9. Chapter 9

Next summer? REALLY!

Comments? I hope you guys haven't fallen out of love with me, for I am still deeply in love with all of you.

Also, I found a song that I am currently obsessed with. It doesn't fit exactly, but it makes a cool companion to this story:

"Maggie" by Colin Hay

AAAAA

_Harvey caught himself matching Maggie's breathing as she slept in her hospital bed, breathing in and out as her chest rose and fell shallowly through the dust and debris she's breathed into her lungs, the I.V. hanging by her bed rehydrating her and staving off the exhaustion she'd been fighting ever since she was brought in after three days of working, trying to get people to safety from the World Trade Center. Her leg was encased in a cast from foot to hip, her painted toes hanging limply out of the plaster where a piece of a once tall, proud building had shifted and broken her leg in four places. Harvey shifted her blankets so her foot was covered from the sterile cold of the recovery ward of the hospital._

_Harvey had been sitting by Maggie's bedside religiously for three days now as she drifted in and out of consciousness from the painkillers the doctors had given her. Harvey carefully ignored the chaos that was going on around them of people screaming in and out of the hospital trucking people and bodies from Ground Zero. He caught the news every once in awhile when the nurses threw him out of the room and he went to get coffee._

_He could barely stomach it._

"_Harvey." A voice growled from behind him._

_Harvey turned to see a man with usually well manicured dark brown hair that was slightly mussed from travel, Harvey guessed. His high cheekbones arced over a mouth that was pressed in a thin, angry line. His brown eyes were cold as he glared at Harvey with a dull resentment that Harvey felt himself inwardly wince from._

"_Will." Harvey answered curtly, frozen in his chair._

"_How is she?" Will asked shortly, going over to Maggie's bedside and looking down on her sleeping form._

"_Better. The doctor says she's healing up really well." Harvey said._

"_Why isn't she awake?" Will asked, his voice still clipped. "If she's healing so nicely from _almost dying_ shouldn't she be telling me how good she's doing?"_

"_Can I see you outside for a minute?" Harvey said quickly, walking out of the door without waiting for an answer. Will followed him and faced him outside of the hospital room. Harvey watched him clench his jaw._

"_Ease up when you're in there." Harvey said. "Maggie needs to rest and if you crawl up her ass then you're going to make this a million times harder."_

"_She wouldn't have had to 'take it easy' and recover in the first place if…" Will started._

"_If what?" Harvey challenged._

"_This is your fault." Will retorted._

"_Like hell it is." Harvey said._

"_If you hadn't filled her head with all that crap about being a cop…" Will said. "I never wanted her to go into something like this."_

"_I didn't fill her head with anything. You just wouldn't listen to her." Harvey said._

"_You pushed her into this!" Will said._

"_Obviously you've never met your daughter if you think me or anyone else can push her into anything." Harvey said._

"_God, you just know everything, don't you, jackass?" Will asked, laughing bitterly._

"_And you can't stop riding Maggie's shit for five minutes and tell her she's actually doing pretty good things." Harvey ground out. "You're damn right I know everything." _

"_Arrogant son of a bitch." Will sneered._

"_Overbearing asshole." Harvey fired back._

"_Enough." A voice croaked from inside. Both the Specter brothers turned their heads and rushed into the room._

"_Maggie. How are you feeling, Baby?" Will asked with concern, taking one of her hands in his own._

"_Both of you shut up." Maggie growled. "Dad, you and I need to talk. Uncle Harvey, can I have some juice, please?"_

"_Of course, Honey Bee." Harvey said. Will and Harvey glared at each other as Harvey left the room._

_Harvey was just walking back down the hallway, juice in hand, when he heard heated voices._

"…_can't keep having this fight, Dad! This is what I wanted to do and I'm doing it! Stop blaming Uncle Harvey!" Maggie was saying._

"_What would have happened, Margaret? What had happened if you died?" Will asked in an agitated tone. "You think putting 'hero' on your tombstone is going to make me or your brothers feel any better? Give your family _any_ comfort?"_

"_Get used to it!" Maggie yelled in a horse voice that made Harvey wince. "This is who I am, so just…deal with it."_

_Will stormed out of the room soon after that, glaring at Harvey again._

"_I really hope you're fucking pleased with yourself." Will growled before he walked down the hallway and left._

SSSSS

Harvey kept his hands in his pockets and bounced nervously on the balls of his feet as he waited in JFK, people bustling around him, all with places to be, all with things to do. The flight he was looking for should have arrived a few minutes ago, but he saw neither hide nor hair of the man he was looking for.

He hadn't talked to his brother at all since that day all those years ago. The phone call to ask for a ride from the airport from his secretary in LA came as more of a surprise to Harvey than anyone.

Harvey made one last glance at the gate when he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Harvey." It said softly.

Harvey turned to see Will. His posture suggested a weight that Harvey could relate to, but his hair was better groomed than the last time Harvey had seen him, his clothes immaculate. He looked at Harvey with pleading in his brown eyes. Begging Harvey for something.

Begging his big brother to tell him it was all some big mistake.

"Hi, Will." Harvey said in a strangled voice as he wrapped his arms around Will. He held on tightly as Will dropped his bags to the terminal floor and clutched his brother, finally letting the sobs wrack his body.

"No…no, no…" Will sobbed in a broken voice. "She can't…s-she can't…"

Harvey was speechless as he tried to offer comfort to Will, gripping him to keep him from falling apart.

Soon, Will unwrapped himself from his brother and Harvey waited patiently as Will dried his eyes.

"Sorry." Will mumbled.

"You okay?" Harvey asked. Will let out a sharp breath out of his nose.

"No." he said, shaking his head.

"Yeah." Harvey answered. "I know."

SSSSS

"She wanted to test out her interrogation on me. We were in the room and everything." Harvey was saying as he sat across from him, both picking at the pizza that sat between them at a table of a little whole in the wall place Will and Harvey always used to go to growing up.

"She brought you into the interrogation room?" Will chuckled quietly.

"We were having lunch." Harvey said. Will gave him an odd look. "Apparently I'm not too popular with the law enforcement crowd."

"Ah." Will said in understanding. "Well, you are with Maggie."

"I think that's why she was trying to hide me in the interrogation room." Harvey said.

The two brothers both fell into silence, picking at their food.

"We haven't talked like this in years." Will finally said.

"I'm sorry, Will." Harvey said quietly. Will looked at him with surprised eyes.

"What?" Will asked.

"I'm sorry. It takes Maggie passing for us to talk again." Harvey saw Will flinch the way he wanted to himself and went on. "You're my brother and that's not right."

"Maggie." Will said quietly. "I'm sorry, too, Harv."

They sat together in companionable silence until Will spoke again.

"It's funny. She was never…she didn't come back too often, but she always called, told me how she was doing. It seemed like I didn't do anything but nag at her."

"Don't do that." Harvey said suddenly.

"What? What shouldn't I do?" Will voice had a slight edge to it.

"Don't do that…that… goddamn…thing. I've been doing it and you don't need to feel that way." Harvey said.

"I think I can mourn my daughter however I want to." Will said, then Harvey watched as he shook his head. "Let's…not, okay? I don't want to fight."

"Me either." Harvey said. "Why does that always seem to happen when we get in the same room?"

"I don't know." Will answered, then swallowed. "I miss her, Harv."

"Me, too." Harvey said quietly and looked up to see Will looking at him with sad eyes.

"I'm sorry." Will said.

"For what?" Harvey asked.

"She was always yours." Will said in a strange voice.

"Don't say that." Harvey answered.

"She loved both of us, but she never quite liked me the way she liked you." Will went on. "You two were close and I guess…"

"What?"

"I guess I was just jealous." Will said. "She worshiped you. Maggie always wanted to go over to Uncle Harvey's and see what Uncle Harvey was doing and go to baseball games with Uncle Harvey."

"Will, I never meant to…" Harvey began.

"I know you didn't" Will said. "And it's okay. She had somebody that she looked up to when I was still floundering. I never really knew what to do with her. She had somebody when she…when she…"

Will voice pinched off and he looked down, trying to get ahold of himself. Harvey put a hand on his shoulder, wishing he knew what to do.

"You're her father, Will." Harvey said. "She knows you love her."

"I made an ass out of myself that day outside of her hospital room." Will said quietly. "I hope you can forgive me."

"Don't worry about it." Harvey said. "Actually, I was going to give you some advice."

"Yeah?" Will wiped his eyes and looked at Harvey.

"Calling your brother a 'son of a bitch' is pretty hypocritical." Harvey said, smirking.

Will laughed wetly and punched his brother in the shoulder as they went back to the pizza.


End file.
